Zero replies? C'mon

tjk60

I just went thru and replied to every post that had zero replies in this forum. many had 70-80 views.

C'mon we can do better! People post up here because they are proud of their shot, or want help.

A simple: good effort, or nice light or I think you should frame tighter, or even a thanks for sharing is warranted, don't you think?

C'mon, there were some damn fine shots in some to the ignored threads....

Whaddya think?

Rocketman766

Many times I view someone's shot and do not comment because I am so new to photography that I don't feel qualified to make a good suggestion. I frequently read the C&C from other and try to learn something so that someday I will also be good enough to make a reliable contribution.

tjk60

Rocketman766 wrote:

Many times I view someone's shot and do not comment because I am so new to photography that I don't feel qualified to make a good suggestion. I frequently read the C&C from other and try to learn something so that someday I will also be good enough to make a reliable contribution.

Yeah, but!

Yeah, but you are qualified to say thanks for posting! or I like the colors! or cute kids/dog/horse/waves/helmet....

wadesworld

Agreed. I'll do my part.

slipkid

Guilty
I have viewed some posts with out posting a comment. I agree, more comments would be nice.

Rocketman766

you're right. I will make more comments. I have been on that side also where there were no comments.

squiddy

I've tried to comment on several people's. Not much time at work.

I had 1 reply to my pictures. It was a big discouraging

tjk60

squiddy wrote:

I've tried to comment on several people's. Not much time at work.

I had 1 reply to my pictures. It was a big discouraging

Squiddy, I'll try and make sure I comment in the future.... thx!

dixonduke

Rocketman766 wrote:

Many times I view someone's shot and do not comment because I am so new to photography that I don't feel qualified to make a good suggestion. I frequently read the C&C from other and try to learn something so that someday I will also be good enough to make a reliable contribution.

I am guilty of exactly the same thing, for exactly the same reasons.

I will try and do better going forward.

(I am not brave enough to post any photos yet though)

Erbeman

tjk60 wrote:

I just went thru and replied to every post that had zero replies in this forum. many had 70-80 views.

C'mon we can do better! People post up here because they are proud of their shot, or want help.

A simple: good effort, or nice light or I think you should frame tighter, or even a thanks for sharing is warranted, don't you think?

C'mon, there were some damn fine shots in some to the ignored threads....

Whaddya think?

Ha, I noticed that yesterday. You were on a crusade. I usually reply when I'm really liking the pics. I don't say anything bad or offer suggestions unless the OP asks for advise or suggestions. I play nice

System

I would rather have a true C & C instead of some BS off the cuff comment like "oooh nice shot".

tjk60

captain78 wrote:

I would rather have a true C & C instead of some BS off the cuff comment like "oooh nice shot".

that's you, and that's ok, but there are a lot of people that just want someone to acknowledge they took the time to post!

zoomer

Agree, we can do better, I will try to do my part.

johng

captain78 wrote:

I would rather have a true C & C instead of some BS off the cuff comment like "oooh nice shot".

I agree completely. IMO, the pat-on-the-back replies are what facebook and myspace are for. The benefit of a PHOTOGRAPHY forum is getting feedback from other photographers.

Every post of photos being labeled as 'nice shot' devaluates good work and doesn't help people learn. When that behavior gets to be the norm, the skill of photographers stagnates. Look, it's not like your friends/family are going to be able to point out where you could improve - so if the people that CAN do it cease to do it - you'll never know when you could be doing something better.

Now, having said that, you don't need to be a top-notch pro to be allowed an opinion. As a photographer and sports enthusiast, most people in the genre have looked at quite a lot of sports photos. So, I think it's perfectly legitimate to have an opinion of what you like / don't like about a given shot. It's certainly helpful to be able to add advice if you know it but just because you can't exactly say how to fix a thing doesn't mean you can't have an opinion that it's something you don't like and could be done better.

some people just develop this negative connotation regarding critique. They HATE getting and suggestion for improvement because it's ego bruising. You have to look at it differently - you should WANT to know how you can improve. Very few people get substantially better simply by trial-and-error with no useful feedback.

Occasionally I'll see a really well done series and that will be the extent of my comment. But I do that person a disservice by using that same generic reply on every post of photos.

Again, it's a shame some people's egos are so fragile they can't handle constructive criticism. IMO, if you can't handle that you shouldn't post photos on a photography forum you should simply post them on social network pages. I got better because some experienced photographers offered honest constructive feedback not because I was told every shot was a good shot. So, if you have an opinion, I encourage you to voice it - both positive and negative. I've gotten a lot of feedback over the years from people that said they learned a lot just by reading feedback on other people's photos.

This was a good sports forum because there were a number of good shooters here and people constantly pushed one anothe to get better in a CONSTRUCTIVE way. Reducing a sports forum to a mutual admiration society benefits no one except those that desparately need attention. Just my opinion. Others may feel differently.

tjk60

John, I agree with the vast majority of your post. The only point is that I responded to > 50 zero reply posts yesterday, because no one else did. There are post that have > 100 views with no replies. I think the prospect of getting a 'nice shot' vs no comment will eventually turn away the 'virgins'. Then it'll be the only sportsshooter level posters left saying 'yep, that's a nice shot.'

I don't expect that everyone will comment, I'm just trying to get a few more to do so. After I did that yesterday 10-15 posts came alive with activity, with some interesting questions from new dgrinners.

I've taken on other forums to making comments like "#4 is the best of the bunch,.."

j-bo

tjk60 wrote:

John, I agree with the vast majority of your post. The only point is that I responded to > 50 zero reply posts yesterday, because no one else did. There are post that have > 100 views with no replies. I think the prospect of getting a 'nice shot' vs no comment will eventually turn away the 'virgins'. Then it'll be the only sportsshooter level posters left saying 'yep, that's a nice shot.'

I don't expect that everyone will comment, I'm just trying to get a few more to do so. After I did that yesterday 10-15 posts came alive with activity, with some interesting questions from new dgrinners.

I've taken on other forums to making comments like "#4 is the best of the bunch,.."

Are people really that sensitive or really find a need for someone to comment on their post?

Maybe people already know that their colors are nice or that it's a nice shot.

I wondered what was up when all of a sudden there were 2 pages of old posts brought back up.

I'm the opposite of Russ....I'd rather comment and try to help someone (and I do it brutally, even though I try to be constructive) that needs it rather than post a comment on "nice one" to someone that obviously already knows it.

BTW..I appoint you official "nice photo" commentator.

Snowgirl

As someone who had two threads with 0 comments, I can appreciate the need for response.

I joined this group to learn and when I post shots, I'm looking for suggestions for improvement or growth. If they're good - that's wonderful - but 0 response scares me - makes me think they're so AWFUL that no one wants to say anything.

I'm a big girl and can take it! How else will I get better?

Starting this thread was a great idea. Thanks.

Erbeman

Snowgirl wrote:

As someone who had two threads with 0 comments, I can appreciate the need for response.

I joined this group to learn and when I post shots, I'm looking for suggestions for improvement or growth. If they're good - that's wonderful - but 0 response scares me - makes me think they're so AWFUL that no one wants to say anything.

I'm a big girl and can take it! How else will I get better?

Starting this thread was a great idea. Thanks.

IMO if you want C&C you should ask for it in your post.

tjk60

j-bo wrote:

I'm the opposite of Russ....I'd rather comment and try to help someone (and I do it brutally, even though I try to be constructive) that needs it rather than post a comment on "nice one" to someone that obviously already knows it.

BTW..I appoint you official "nice photo" commentator.

I try and help others also. Maybe not brutally, but I'll try and help.

I'm not looking to be a 'nice photo' commentator, but trying to start at least a 'thanks for posting' reply.

I'm just saying there were (guestimate now) over 50 posts, with a collective 300+ views, and no comments. that defies the law of averages....

And I agree, if you want criticism, you should ask, not everyone wants criticism, they just want to post what they think is a cool pic. Nothing wrong with a RSVP....

squiddy

I tend to shy away from the C&C because i know some people can have their feelings hurt. Plus i'm still learning.

Normally if someone asked for C&C i would give it and say get a thick skin but i haven't been here long and i don't wanna have the title The Big B.

Erbeman

If you don't ask for C&C I don't feel like I should say anything negative about a persons photos because nobody has voted me "Best Sports Photog on the forum." So, by just throwing my opinion at someone, I feel like I am showing an ego by thinking I can help everyone, so they need to hear what I have to say. I'm just respectful like that. Not saying my way is the right way. It's just the way I choose to represent myself on a public forum.

DavidTO

Erbeman wrote:

IMO if you want C&C you should ask for it in your post.

Interesting. I've always figured if you DON'T want C&C you should say so, since (as has been said above) this is a photo forum. If you're not here to get better (and you can only improve so much without honest feedback from others), then why post?

I guess as someone who gets criticized for a living, and on a daily basis, I see the benefit in it. Trust me, learning how to incorporate the insights of others into your own personal vision can do nothing but make you better. Not that you should change your personal vision, or sell it out in any way. But it will make your vision stronger and more powerful. Even if only because the comments give you something to disagree wtih.

DavidTO

DavidTO wrote:

Interesting. I've always figured if you DON'T want C&C you should say so, since (as has been said above) this is a photo forum. If you're not here to get better (and you can only improve so much without honest feedback from others), then why post?

I guess as someone who gets criticized for a living, and on a daily basis, I see the benefit in it. Trust me, learning how to incorporate the insights of others into your own personal vision can do nothing but make you better. Not that you should change your personal vision, or sell it out in any way. But it will make your vision stronger and more powerful. Even if only because the comments give you something to disagree wtih.

oops. "criticized" should have been "critiqued"!

thoth

DavidTO wrote:

Interesting. I've always figured if you DON'T want C&C you should say so, since (as has been said above) this is a photo forum. If you're not here to get better (and you can only improve so much without honest feedback from others), then why post?

This seems to be a common debate on all photography forums. Many (most?) forums are frequented primarily for their social offerings and not necessarily for education or technical improvement. DGrin seems to be on the more technical side of the photography forum business, however.

My personal opinion is that the forum rules should clearly state how one is to go about requesting, or declining, C&C. Whether C&C is to be assumed until directed otherwise, or the contrary is true, when the members are left to their own devices their individual decisions will rarely prove harmonious. What you are left with is a bunch of folks who are not sure how and when to comment.

thoth

DavidTO wrote:

oops. "criticized" should have been "critiqued"!

That could be a very telling mistake...

DavidTO

thoth wrote:

That could be a very telling mistake...

Exactly.

DavidTO

DavidTO wrote:

Exactly.

I would highly encourage anyone who struggles with commenting on other's works to take a quick (it's short and easy to grasp) look at The Hamburger Method. Make sure you continue down past the annoying ads.

beetle8

johng wrote:

I agree completely. IMO, the pat-on-the-back replies are what facebook and myspace are for. The benefit of a PHOTOGRAPHY forum is getting feedback from other photographers.

Every post of photos being labeled as 'nice shot' devaluates good work and doesn't help people learn. When that behavior gets to be the norm, the skill of photographers stagnates. Look, it's not like your friends/family are going to be able to point out where you could improve - so if the people that CAN do it cease to do it - you'll never know when you could be doing something better.

Now, having said that, you don't need to be a top-notch pro to be allowed an opinion. As a photographer and sports enthusiast, most people in the genre have looked at quite a lot of sports photos. So, I think it's perfectly legitimate to have an opinion of what you like / don't like about a given shot. It's certainly helpful to be able to add advice if you know it but just because you can't exactly say how to fix a thing doesn't mean you can't have an opinion that it's something you don't like and could be done better.

some people just develop this negative connotation regarding critique. They HATE getting and suggestion for improvement because it's ego bruising. You have to look at it differently - you should WANT to know how you can improve. Very few people get substantially better simply by trial-and-error with no useful feedback.

Occasionally I'll see a really well done series and that will be the extent of my comment. But I do that person a disservice by using that same generic reply on every post of photos.

Again, it's a shame some people's egos are so fragile they can't handle constructive criticism. IMO, if you can't handle that you shouldn't post photos on a photography forum you should simply post them on social network pages. I got better because some experienced photographers offered honest constructive feedback not because I was told every shot was a good shot. So, if you have an opinion, I encourage you to voice it - both positive and negative. I've gotten a lot of feedback over the years from people that said they learned a lot just by reading feedback on other people's photos.

This was a good sports forum because there were a number of good shooters here and people constantly pushed one anothe to get better in a CONSTRUCTIVE way. Reducing a sports forum to a mutual admiration society benefits no one except those that desparately need attention. Just my opinion. Others may feel differently.

I have not been to this forum in a long time, mainly because of something John says above. This was (past tense) a good sports forum.
Right around the time the big debate about parents with cameras getting advice from pros then giving their photos of the same event away for free happened. It was right around that time that this forum lost activity and interest.
Running around patting everyone on the back and saying good game isn't going improve the forum.
There are certain people that can not take a critique no matter how nicely worded it is. There are also people who can't provide a nicely worded critique.

slpollett

The title of this post caught my eye, so I had to venture in & read all the comments...

I usually don't frequent the sports topics because that isn't my interest, but I see this same situation happening in almost every forum section. Most people that post are are lucky to get 1 comment from 100+ people looking. There are a few who will post a picture and get 10 pages of comments, but that is not the norm.

For me, when I do get up the nerve to post a picture, it's usually one that I 'think' I've done OK with. I always say c&c welcome and appreciated, but I rarely get more than 1 'nice pic' type of comment. I've posted several times and got no comments. Like someone else mentioned, that makes me think my shots are so bad nobody wants to bother and it also makes me not want to ever post another shot in any section ever again. Actually now I rarely post pics even though I did post some recently, but it had been a while since the last time.

I love to read the feedback people leave for other photographers because that's how I learn myself. The most helpful feedback is (example) if the lighting is poor, don't say 'your lighting sucks' or 'your lighting needs improvement' but rather say something like 'your lighting could be improved if you tried.....' or 'have you tried using ...... to help with the lighting' or something like that. Your composition could be improved if you do ....... instead. I try very hard to leave some type of comment myself but since I don't have great technical ability yet, my comments are usually limited to generic statements--but at least I make a comment.

Thanks for posting this topic. Hopefully this will encourage people to offer a little more critique.

Sherry

Gary752

I am new to DGrin, and I'm slowly getting to know some of the Photog's in the different forums. When I post a photo, I always state that C&C always welcomed. If someone can give me a tip or trick to make the photo better at shoot time, in order to save some time on some PP time, you better beleive I'm going to try it out. If it works, I'm going to make a mental note to do that every time I run into that situation. So in a nutshell, I thrive on C&C, good or bad.

Also, I am just starting a home study course through NYIP, and after each unit of study, you take a test and then you have a project to shoot. Each student is assigned an instructor which happens to be a PRO. This instructor tells you the good and bad points of your photos, and then tells you how to make your photos better. On my first written tests (2 of them) I averaged a 90%, and on my photos (3 of them) my weak point was composition on one of them, and the other 2 was use of proper apeture, but was told good job on my first project.

So in closing, when pointing out what they did wrong, also point out what they did right and all will be fine! Now I'm not that good yet to point out mistakes, but I will let someone know when I really love a particular photo and why.

GaryB

ClaireJ

Being from the other side of the north Atlantic, I'd welcome an alternative view about my photos. I must admit I don't feel qualified to comment on any north American sports because I have no experience of them but I could I realise comment on at least the composition and exposure.

And I'm getting well used to zero replies - I tend to check the views.